Amazon Prime Air Expands Drone Delivery to Three New Texas Cities

Amazon Prime Air is significantly broadening its autonomous drone delivery footprint by incorporating three additional Texas metropolitan areas: Richardson, San Antonio, and Waco, marking a substantial phase in the service's national scaling strategy. This expansion follows the recent activation of drone service in Waco on November 5, 2025, and Richardson on December 4, 2025, signaling an aggressive push after the resolution of technical setbacks earlier in the year.

The service utilizes highly autonomous drones to deliver lightweight packages, aiming to fulfill the long-standing vision of delivering items to customers in 30 minutes or less, a goal first articulated by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2013. The operational strategy for these new Texas locations reflects a key business pivot for Prime Air, moving toward integrating drone operations within existing fulfillment centers rather than relying on standalone facilities. This contrasts with the now-shuttered College Station location, one of the original pilot programs, which ceased operations on August 31, 2025, partly due to community opposition over noise complaints.

In Richardson, the service launched on December 4, 2025, allowing Prime members to receive eligible items weighing up to five pounds within a seven- to eight-mile radius of the fulfillment center at 3051 Research Dr. The cost for Prime members in Richardson is set at $4.99 per drone delivery, with a potential delivery time as fast as one hour, placing Amazon in direct competition with other North Texas drone services. This deployment utilizes the MK30 drone model, designed to be quieter and capable of operating in more diverse weather conditions than earlier iterations.

The regulatory foundation enabling this rapid expansion was established through crucial Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approvals. Amazon secured an Air Carrier Certificate under Part 135 of FAA regulations in August 2020, and more recently, received permissions for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, which allows drones to fly without a remote pilot maintaining direct sight. This BVLOS approval is foundational to scaling operations to more populated areas across the U.S., supporting Amazon's objective to deliver 500 million packages annually via drone by the close of the decade.

The swift launch in Waco and Pontiac, Michigan, within three days suggests that technical challenges, including multiple crashes in early 2025 that grounded the fleet, have been addressed through critical software updates. While expanding into new Texas markets, Amazon has adjusted its legacy sites, suspending operations in Lockeford, California, in April 2024, and exiting College Station in August 2025. The current national footprint now includes Tolleson, Arizona, Pontiac, Michigan, and the newly added Texas locations, positioning the company to leverage drone technology as part of its broader goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.